Blue Danube Wine Company Premieres New Award Winning Wines from Austria and Croatia

Los Altos, CA May 1, 2004--Blue Danube Wine Company dramatically expands its collection of fine wines from Central and Eastern Europe at this year’s World Wine Market April 29- May 1 at Fort Mason, San Francisco, California. The collection brings many fine wines with their distinctive flavors to the American wine market for the first time.

Today Blue Danube Wine Company launches two new award winning wineries from Austria and brings three of the best wines from ancient wine regions in Croatia to the show floor. Blue Danube Wine Company is importing the top wines of two of Austria’s leading wineries: Rabl Winery and Kurt Angerer Winery, both located in the Kamptal, an Austrian wine region famous for its superb Grüner Veltliner. Three top wines made from local Croatian grape varietals, Zlahtina, Posip and Plavac Mali, the Croatian relative of Zinfandel, are also now part of the award winning Blue Danube Wine Company portfolio. The line-up already includes J. Heinrich Winery’s Terra O., named by Wine Spectator as Top Austrian Red Wine in 2003 and the sweet nectars from Weinrieder’s Winery, also known as the Kaiser of Eiswein. Extremely popular in their native lands, these wines are becoming increasingly well known in Europe and will now be available in the United States for the first time. The wines will be open for tasting at Booth 502, Table 16 at the World Wine Market April 29 - May 1 at Fort Mason, San Francisco, California.

Rabl Winery
The Rabl Winery is located in Austria’s eminent wine town of Langenlois in the Kamptal wine district. It was awarded “Most Successful Winery in Austria” at the recent VinItaly 2004, Italy’s premier wine trade show. At VinItaly the Rabl Winery also won several Gold Medals for their Wines in particular for their top Riesling named Vinum Optimum, Latin for The Best Wine. Rudolf Rabl’s family has been making wine since 1750. The Kamptal Winery Rabl owns 116 acres of vineyards, which are maintained in an organically controlled method. The main varietal is the classic Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s most popular white wine, which is gaining a following in US restaurants. American chefs and sommeliers have started to discover how well this refreshing and somewhat spicy wine pairs with food, in particular seafood and oriental fusion cuisine.

Kurt Angerer Winery
A neighbor of Rabl in the Kamptal is winemaker Kurt Angerer. In a few years, Kurt Angerer has made the leap into the peak of the Austrian wine elite and is considered to a shooting star. The high point of his winemaking career so far is the award of the prized Vinaria Trophy at last year’s Grüner Veltliner tasting. Angerer’s wines exhibit the minerality of the soil the grapes are growing in, the so called terroir. To indicate the specific origin of each wine, Kurt Angerer names them for the soil type, Kies, Loam, and Spiess, or Gravel, Clay, and Primary Rock. The European demand for Angerer’s wines has skyrocketed so much that only a small allocation is left this year for the US market. For the future Angerer plans to significantly increase plantings in his vineyards and his wine production.
The Croatian Heritage of the American Zinfandel
Blue Danube Wine Company brings Zinfandel’s Croatian cousin, the Dingac, to California so that Zinfandel lovers can compare the two grape varietals side by side. Recently, researchers at UC Davis in cooperation with their colleagues in Croatia have proven that the ancient wine culture of Croatia is the origin of the most famous American grape, Zinfandel. Grapevines have been adorning the southern slopes of the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia for thousands of years. The Plavac Mali grape, the contemporary relative of the Zinfandel, is the most popular red variety in Croatia. It thrives remarkably well in the sunny Karst soil of the Dalmatian Coast and Islands and this is where the king of Croatian red wines, Dingac, dwells. Dingac is made from the indigenous Plavac Mali grape variety grown in the limited locality known as Dingac on the steep southern hillsides of the Peljesac Peninsula. It has a deep ruby red color, remarkably distinctive and rich bouquet and subtly pronounced varietal aroma.

Skaramuca Vineyards
For several generations the Skaramuca Family has been creating some of the best Croatian wines. The steep hillside vineyard where Dingac is grown is known for the highest average temperatures in the country. The climatic conditions of this ecologically pristine area make spraying unnecessary. An ideal location, basking in the reflected rays of the Adriatic Sea combined with a modern and newly equipped cellar, produces and guarantees a top quality wine. The Skaramuca Dingac has matured in Slavonian oak barrels for more than 18 months. It can age beautifully over many years and its pronounced tannins will continue to provide a robust backbone structure to its complex flavors. This Dingac calls for grilled meats Croatian cuisine is famous for.

Cara Korcula Vineyards
Located in the quaint village of Cara on the Dalmatian Island of Korcula, this small vineyard produces one of the most impressive white wines in Europe. The history of the Island of Korcula, the birthplace of the famous traveler, Marco Polo, goes back to Homeric times. The wine making tradition was brought by the Greeks over 3,000 years ago. Posip is a native Dalmatian varietal that produces fragrant medium to full body wines. The Cara Posip pairs very nicely with traditional seafood but also with a hearty pork chop and other grilled meats.

Katunar Winery
Brothers Anton and Ivan Katunar of the town of Vrbnik have succeeded in recreating some of the unique local wines by combining the old family tradition with modern technology. As a result Katunar Vineyards now boast an impressive collection of white, red and sparkling wines. Zlahtina is a unique white grape variety indigenous to the town of Vrbnik on the island of Krk. Katunar Zlahtina is widely acknowledged as the best quality Zlahtina wine now available. This exceptional dry white wine is famous among Croatians around the world. Its light acids exhibit the fine elegance of the citrus flavors so typical of the Mediterranean coasts. The Katunar Zlahtina is wonderful sipped on a hot summer day or served as an inviting aperitif to a meal with friends and family.

About Blue Danube Wine Company
Blue Danube Wine Company is an importer and distributor of fine wines from Austria, Croatia and Hungary based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our focus is the dynamic renaissance taking place in the old wine cultures along the Danube River, as it winds its long journey from its modest spring in Germany to the huge delta in the Romanian and Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea.
We specialize in small family owned wineries with outstanding reputations that produce sophisticated flavorful food friendly wines. The Blue Danube Wine Collection features handcrafted estate grown wines of exceptional character. Our winemakers combine old winemaking traditions and indigenous grape varietals typical of their regions with modern vinification technologies to produce distinctive wines.

This article courtesy of http://www.allworldwines.com.
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